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Bad In The Best Way: A Map Of The Punny Businesses In Texas

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Fried and True, a trailer in Austin serving fair-quality fried food, was one of the Atlas Obscura editors' top picks for punny businesses.

Five stories that have North Texas talking: Explore a map of pun-named places in Dallas-Fort Worth; state vehicle registration will be even less fun next year; public radio props to two Texas singer-songwriters; and more.

 

Puns: You either love them or hate them. Either way, you can’t deny Atlas Obscura’s impressive, crowdsourced map of 1,900 punny businesses. The U.S. map is broken down by business: bars, coffee shops, hair salons, dentist offices, etc. for each state. There were 83 submissions for Texas, and here’s a few D-FW gems.

  • Tow Jam: Road recovery service in Dallas for when you’re in a jam and you need a tow. Genius.
  • Fun Guys: A bit more subtle but equally brilliant — gourmet mushrooms in Lewisville.
  • Heflin’s Hairport: A beauty salon in Arlington. A no fly-aways zone, you could say.
  • Condom Sense: Ahem, self-explanatory. They’re all over the metroplex.

There are so many more where that came from. If you go Northwest or Northeast, the puns reach the hundreds. There are pun-dreds of them. OK, done. Also, Atlas Obscura says submissions are closed, but edits are appreciated, and for even more, try #punbiz on Twitter. [Atlas Obscura]

 

  • Most Texans will start paying at least $1.75 more for their annual vehicle registration. If you prefer to register in person, which 64 percent of Texans do, you’ll see an increase of $4.75 for processing and handling, making the total state fee $55.50, The Dallas Morning News reported. But there’s a $1 discount for those who register online — one of the personal and county-wide benefits the DMV has used to defend the change. The agency pushed for the change to cover a budget gap, and the extra money will boost roads funding. County officials argue the changes cut their compensation, squander customer service and decrease the base amount of money counties receive from registrations. According to the Morning News, Dallas County would lose $700,000 in the first year with the new fees. [The Dallas Morning News]   

  • A Houston man crafted “The Lone Star Stack,” the winning hamburger that’s now the official McDonald’s hamburger of Texas. The fast-food chain’s “Come and Make It” campaign asked Texans to build a custom burger that represented the food and flavor of the state. The Lone Star Stack, created by 25-year-old Joseph Peña of Houston, “stacks two beef patties covered in melted American and white cheddar cheese with Applewood bacon, sweet onion BBQ sauce, pickles and grilled onions between two slices of Texas toast,” according to GuideLive. The signature stack will be available in D-FW until Aug. 28, and then you can go back to eating Whataburger per usual. [GuideLive]

  • Amid the many controversial cases involving Texas in the past week, a perhaps lesser known issue will be considered by the Supreme Court. Justices will look at a dispute among deaf people in Texas who claim driver instruction schools in the state won't let them take classes needed to get a license, The Associated Press reported. A Texas agency in question that outsources driver instruction can be sued for not making sure the private contractors accommodate people with disabilities — something a federal appeals court said was not their responsibility. The court won’t hear Ivy v. Morath, 15-486, until next fall when the new term begins. [The Associated Press]

  • A couple of Texas tune-makers made NPR Music’s 30 Favorite Albums of 2016 (So far). First, Maren Morris, a 26-year-old country singer-songwriter from Arlington, got a nod for her major label debut,  “Hero.” Reviewer Jewly Hight wrote: “Morris is an astute student of current popcraft, at ease with the cadences and postures of R&B and hip-hop, as casually chameleonic as any country artist to date.” And down in Austin, Carrie Rodriguez’s “Lola” is a bilingual beauty. Reviewer Felix Contreras said that beauty exists in the details of the album and in Rodriguez’s deep roots as a Mexican-American musician. Take a listen. [Art&Seek, NPR]